


Switched

by Akeara4



Series: Switched [1]
Category: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Genre: Alexander deserves a turn to be tortured, Daniel screwed up again, Gen, body switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-01
Updated: 2012-04-01
Packaged: 2017-11-02 21:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/373637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akeara4/pseuds/Akeara4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel screws up and spills a potion on him and Alexander, causing them to wake up in each other's bodies. Daniel has to try to deal with Alexander's weird alien powers, and Alexander has the unfortunate hindrance of losing sanity in the dark. Some humour, and some seriousness, a lot of torturing Alexander. Not slash. Yet.</p>
<p>Written for the kink meme, Sequel written for the eventual slash. Sequel isn't necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Switched

It was a dark, dreary day, and the rain was pouring morbidly outside of castle Brennenburg. Thus, it was a normal day for young Daniel of Mayfair, the man who was staying under the care of the old Baron Alexander, in order to escape the shadow. At the moment, Alexander was teaching Daniel how to make an amnesia potion.  
“Now what goes next, Daniel?” The baron tested him. Daniel paused for a moment.  
“Um.. this?” he asked timidly. the baron sighed.  
“No.” He ordered, giving no other hints. Daniel looked again.  
“This?” The baron shook his head. “This?” Wrong. “ _This?!?_ ” Wrong. Daniel found himself panicking. _Which one was it?_ He thought frantically.  
“Give up?” Alexander said, irritated, yet slightly amused. Daniel nodded in defeat.  
“I’m sorry...” He apologized. The baron simply sighed.  
“It is this one, Daniel.” He said, picking up a small vial. Daniel would have never guessed that one. Daniel picked the vial up and poured it into the mixture.  
“Now what?” He asked. The baron was about to answer when a loud crash was heard in the castle.  
“I must fix that. Wait here, Daniel. And Don’t. Touch. ANYTHING.” He said before swiftly exiting the laboratory.  
Daniel took this time to look around.  
The shelved were lined in interesting concoctions and solutions to create potions of great power. It all amazed Daniel. Just a few of these ingredients, and a powerful potion of untold mysteries would be born. Maybe he could try his hand at mixing them...  
He grabbed a couple of the more colorful concoctions and mixed them into the same glass bottle. He walked around the shelves, adding this and that, wondering what his experiment would produce. He was reaching over to grab a small vial when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“What are you doing?” Alexander’s voice boomed. Daniel screamed in surprise and fear and dropped his experiment, the glass shattering and the solution spreading across both of their feet.  
“DANIEL WHAT HAVE YOU-” and then everything was black.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Daniel! Wake up!” The baron ordered. Daniel wondered why Alexander’s voice sounded so.. weird.  
 _ **The idiot.**_   
That one sounded like Alexander. He felt someone shake him.  
“Wake up, Daniel!!” The weird voiced Alexander yelled again, obviously irritated.  
All the memories of what had caused him to pass out flooded into his brain at once. Daniel jolted up, eyes wide.  
“Baron I’m s-” He stopped. He was staring at himself... Himself with a very Alexander-like air about him. He looked at his own hands- old and wrinkled. He quicly stood up and looked at the rest of his body. He was wearing Alexander’s clothes too. He started to panic. Who was this other him and why did he look like Alexander?!?! He felt a hand rest on his shoulder from a man much shorter than him. The other him looked sternly at him.  
“Daniel. I know this is a lot to take in, but you need to stay calm.” _**Curses, I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He can be so unpredictable.**_ Daniel looked at his other self.  
“What do you mean, I’m “unpredictable”?!?” He asked, slightly offended. His other self sighed.  
 ** _Daniel. Stop reading my mind._** The baron’s voice rang in irritation.  
“I’m Reading your mind?” He asked in shock. The other him sighed again, rubbing his temples in annoyance.  
“Yes.” He breathed in for a moment, as if getting used to his new body. “We have switched bodies, Daniel. You are in my body and I am in yours.” He stated flatly, able to tell that Daniel still had no idea of what was going on. “And I can read minds, which apparently means you can now as well.” Daniel took a moment to comprehend this.  
“So.. I’m you and you’re me?” He said, barely getting the gist of the explanation. The baron nodded with Daniel’s body.  
“Daniel.” He began. “When is the last time you ate?” Daniel thought for a moment.  
“Ummm.. I don’t know... I usually don’t eat very much.” Alexander glared at him.   
“You are starving! Didn’t you realize the pain in your stomach?!?” He yelled.  
“I um Just ignored it...” Alexander groaned. _**You are a complete and utter moron.**_ The thought was meant to be heard by Daniel, who took offense, but felt sorry for the trouble he had put the baron through.  
“Should we go eat, then?” Daniel asked timidly. Alexander glared at him through his own eyes.  
“Yes.” The single word was filled with anger.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After a good meal, Alexander turned to Daniel again.  
“We need to find a way to fix this.” He ordered. Daniel followed the now shorter Alexander to the laboratory.  
“How are we supposed to fix it?” Daniel asked the baron, staring at the walls of the dark hallways that were suddenly not scary at all to him. It still creeped him out, but he felt like he could handle it.   
Alexander stopped short in one of the dark hallways and gripped his head, wobbling a little.  
“Alexander?!?” Daniel yelled before running over to the baron’s side and catching him right before he lost balance. Alexander stilled, but leaned back and into daniel, not having the power to hold himself up. He finally spoke in a hushed and airy whisper.  
“Daniel. Get me the nearest light.” It was an order, and a very angry one. Daniel immediately picked him up bridal style and ran to the nearest lit area. He had no idea what was going on, but it made the baron nearly faint. When he got to the lit area (which was actually quite far, although it had only taken him a few seconds to get there; wow, Alexander was fast), the baron looked up to him with a seething glare.  
“Put me down.” **_This is all your fault._** Daniel immediately put him down, wondering at his own strength (he hadn’t realized when his only thoughts were “save Alexander”) and Alexander looked at the light for what seemed like an entire minute. He then turned o Daniel and glared daggers.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“You idiotic, naive, clumsy, cowardly, childish human!!” He yelled, stomping closer to him with murderous intent. Daniel backed up slowly in fear of the baron, despite his now smaller size. “I don’t even know why I am still helping you! You’ve put me through many troubles and you continue o ignore EVERYTHING I TELL YOU!!” He was still walking towards Daniel, who now simply crouched on the ground and covered his head in fear, waiting for his punishment.  
“I’m sorry!” He cried, close to tears in his fear. The baron never yelled. He never got this mad. He usually just sighed or rubbed his head in annoyance. Daniel was shaking badly in fear.  
“Daniel, calm down!” The order had a hint of fear in it. Daniel kept his eyes closed and Alexander’s thoughts filled his head in a jumbled mess. **_My powers are controlled by- Daniel calm dow- If you keep doing that I’ll- It’ll hur- Daniel STOP IT PLEA- Danie- Please..._** There was a soft thud and Daniel looked up to see Alexander unconscious on the ground.  
“Alexander!” He said before shaking the motionless body on the ground. He looked at their surroundings- he had no idea where they were. He sat there by Alexander and waited.  
It wasn’t long before he got fairly bored and worried. He focused on Alexander. Maybe he could read his mind or see his dreams or something! He placed a hand on Alexander’s head and focused again.  
Alexander screamed and writhed in pain.  
Daniel immediately pulled back and slid away from Alexander, who now had a look of pain across his unconscious face.  
“I’m sorry...” He whispered, curling up into himself. Alexander groaned in his sleep and curled further together in the after-pain.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was a while before Alexander woke. Daniel had fallen asleep by his side and curled into a ball. Alexander stood and cringed in the pain that hit his head.  
“What did he try to do?” He questioned in a whisper, (a)gripping his head. He tried to pick Daniel up to carry him to a bed, but found that he could not with such weak human strength. He cursed under his breath and ran back to get Daniel some sort of comfort, Closing his eyes and going by memory whenever he got to a dark hallway. How Daniel had managed to survive with this hindrance was beyond him. He grabbed a pillow and blanket and ran back before situating Daniel with them. He noticed a bookcase in the room and grabbed one of his favorite books and began to read, waiting.  
It was only an hour or two before Daniel woke. He stirred slowly and his eyes fluttered open. Alexander was sitting near him, reading silently. He looked over at him over his book.  
“I hope you slept well.” He said in monotone. Daniel curled back into himself.  
“I’m sorry, Alexander...” He whispered sincerely. Alexander sighed.  
“Do not let your emotions go haywire. I- My body has many abilities and most of them are controlled by emotion. Control yourself for the short time we are stuck like this.” He warned. Daniel nodded curtly, still curled up on himself. Alexander sighed. “And please get out of that position, Daniel. It’s annoying seeing _myself_ in such an embarrassing stature.” Daniel complied immediately and stood up, looming over Alexander slightly.  
“B-better?” Daniel asked, his voice quivering. “I’m r-really sorry.” A look of pain crossed Alexander’s face again. **_Please calm down, Daniel. You are hurting me._** Alexander gripped his head again, causing Daniel to just panic more.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Daniel, think of something that makes you feel safe!” Alexander ordered, groaning loudly and falling to his knees with his head in his hands. The first thing that came to Daniel’s mind was of course the baron himself, the only person he could remember actually making him feel safe. Daniel latched on to the feeling. The feeling of Alexander instructing him in everything, protecting him from the shadow and the dark, and anything that haunted the man’s mind.  
“Thank you.”  
Daniel opened his eyes, not knowing when he had shut them to begin with. Alexander was standing there, rubbing his head and not noticing the importance of the simple statement he had uttered. Daniel stood in awe of the first time he had heard the baron say any sort of appreciative words to Daniel, who simply stared at Alexander wide-eyed.  
“What is it, Daniel?” The baron asked, looking over his body to ensure he hadn’t grown an extra limb or anything. Daniel just blinked.  
“N-nothing, Alexander.” He responded, but couldn’t help but smile. Alexander actually had the capacity for thanking in him, and wasn’t some cold and heartless... whatever he was. Alexander closed his eyes and sighed.  
“What are you so happy about?” he questioned, his voice a little airy. “Try to contain your emotions, Daniel. Even positive ones have an effect.” Daniel looked to see Alexander standing there with his eyes closed and near untraceable breath. He seemed content and daydreaming.  
“Alexander?” Daniel asked in slight worry. How did Alexander control himself so well all the time?!? Daniel couldn’t remember a time when he had to go through any of the things he was now putting Alexander through... The baron slowly opened his eyes an turned to Daniel.  
“I am fine, Daniel. Just control your emotions. Each one has it’s own effect. And if you need to stop whatever it is from happening, Simply think of safety.” He instructed, still slightly out of it.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Daniel nodded in understanding.  
“How do you do it?” He asked honestly. The baron simply shrugged.  
“It’s simple.” Was all he could offer. He could control his emotions as a second nature, it wasn’t really an effort to make. He quickly changed the subject. “Daniel, we should go to the laboratory to create the antiserum.” He ordered as he began to waltz toward the lab. Daniel quickly followed.  
Alexander had to pause and take a deep breath before walking through the dark hallway. He kept his eyes closed and walked by memory, but the closed eyes didn’t stop the hallucinations from beginning. He cursed under his breath as he heard his teeth begin to chatter against his will and heard bugs crawling aruond him, which wouldn’t have bothered him before, but for some unknown reason send shivers down his spine now. He finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened his eyes.  
“Daniel.” It was meant as an ordering tone, but his voice was shaking slightly. Damn. “Would you be as kind as to light a candle or lantern?” He couldn’t see any sort of light within view, and the way to the lab was fairly long. Oh god the walls were going to suffocate him.  
Daniel wasn’t answering.  
Alexander looked around him. No Daniel. He must have gotten lost and separated, which wasn’t new to Alexander, but normally the baron didn’t need a light. He called his name loudly.   
No answer. Was he starting to see roaches crawling all over him?  
Fuck.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel found himself wandering the castle lost. AGAIN. It seemed to be a reaccurring theme since he got there, and he began to wonder at what point he’d fallen behind the baron, who seemed to be nearly running to get out of the dark, winding hallway. Daniel was still curious as to why the dark didn’t effect him as much. He was still afraid of it, but he could withstand it, especially because at the moment, there seemed to be dim enough light for him to see everything around him. He couldn’t tell where the light was coming from, and every time he tried to look to find out, the light seemed to be floating behind his head or something.  
Beyond that, Daniel was trying to find a familiar hallway, which was damn near impossible considering the similarity between the castle’s halls.  
He eventually found a small lit area and sat down to try and get his bearings.  
Then, when he still couldn’t figure it out, he thought of something else.  
Maybe Alexander had some ability that could teleport him or help him find his way. He was far enough away from the baron, who was probably halfway done with making the potion by now, that whatever he does shouldn’t hurt him. He remembered that the abilities were controlled by emotions.  
He concentrated. Maybe anger would help. He thought of his father and how angry he was when the man went after his sister.   
One of the lamps blew up.  
Right, so that wasn’t it. He tried something more specific and likely. Homesickness. He thought of his sister in the hospital bed, she might actually be alive still. If only he could return to her and tell her that he’s alive. After all, she probably thought he was dead after the Algeria incident.  
His whole body tingled. Maybe he was teleporting somewhere.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
He immediately thought to the laboratory and realized he missed Alexander too. He missed the happy feeling he got around him, safety and... friendship? He didn’t know, but he looked up to the man and he was his home too, now that he thought about it.  
He felt normal again.  
Wait.  
No.  
 _Better_ than normal. Everything felt so fresh and a thrust of senses invaded him. The floor felt warm. Had the halls always smelled this way? It smelled... _good_. He opened his eyes to see where the smell had come from and everything was clearer. The dark hallway to his left seemed bright as day.   
What in gods name had happened?  
He looked down to see how his vision effected his view of his- _Alexander’s_ body.  
He found himself looking down at pale, blue tinted, taloned hands.  
He moved his hands and the weird and creepy ones moved the same way.  
What had he done?  
He used the wall as a support to get up and his hand sunk _through_ the stone a bit. He pulled his hand back to see that it had left an imprint where it had compacted the stone.  
So he was apparently a little stronger now...  
His _wings_ brushed the ceiling.  
That was about when Daniel fainted.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Daniel awoke in the same body he fainted in, much to his dismay. He decided to try to ignore his body and find Alexander- at least he would know what was going on. He started walking in a random direction before _sensing_ someone a few halls down. He tried his best not to question the sense, much like the rest of the changes, as he followed it blindly.  
The one thing that shocked him more than the strange body was seeing Alexander curled up into the fetal position on the floor, shaking, and muttering to himself under his breath.  
“Alexander!” He called. Alexander kept his muttering, not even seeming to notice Daniel. **_...Just another hallucination. Ignore it. Just wait for Daniel. He’ll find you eventually. He’s used to this stuff.. he’ll know how to fix it._** He whimpered. **_The walls are going to crush me. Help me Daniel._**   
Suffice to say that Alexander was taken to a lit area faster than you could say “the shadow”.  
“Alexander! Alexander!” Daniel shook the still shaking man, being careful with the now superhuman strength he possessed. “Alexander! Look at the light! Please!”   
Alexander finally looked vaguely at the light, the shaking dying down slowly.  
Daniel felt a giant wave of relief as he hugged the baron tightly, and the shaking stopped.  
“A-Alexander? Are you alright?” He asked, still hugging him. The answer was coarse and airy.  
“Barely, but yes, Daniel. Thank you.”  
He hadn’t broken off the hug, which signaled that he still didn’t even have the strength for that. Daniel sighed in relief nonetheless from his answer.  
At least he was okay.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
They sat there for a small while, Daniel holding Alexander in a tight, but not suffocating, hug. Slowly Alexander seemed to get his strength back and he eventually whispered to Daniel.  
“Thank you. I’m fine now. You can let go of me.”  
Daniel nodded and released the baron with his now human hands. he blinked. When had that happened?  
Alexander dusted himself off and stood as confidently as possible while still wobbling a little.  
“We must go to the laboratory and fix this. Now.” He ordered, turning around and walking toward the lab. He paused as they reached a dark area and breathed deeply. “ Stay with me this time.” He ordered before beginning his slow ascent into the darkened hallway.  
It wasn’t very long before the walls began to breathe again.  
“Daniel.” The baron ordered, slowing slightly.  
“Y-yes?” Daniel responded, less than a foot behind the baron.  
Something quickly grabbed his arm and he yelped.  
“It’s only me, Daniel.” Alexander assured. “We simply must hurry, and I do not wish for you to get lost behind me. God forbid you try to experiment with my body again.” He lied.  
With that, he pulled Daniel quickly through the dark hallway, nearly running, until they reached the thankfully well lit Laboratory. Alexander decided that he was going to make a much bigger effort to keep the castle well lit for Daniel when he gets his body back. He released Daniel’s arm and pointed to a chair.  
“Now sit and stay out of my way, Daniel.” He ordered. “I will fix this as fast as humanly possible.” He grumbled the word “humanly” as if it were a curse.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
With Daniel seated and out of the way, Alexander went straight to his work. Daniel watched in awe as the baron swiftly grabbed ingredients from shelves, barely looking at them before measuring amounts and putting them into a boiling concoction.  
He never missed a beat, putting dozens of ingredients in in mere moments, and seemingly know what to do with each of them automatically. Daniel always found it amazing how fast and precise the baron was with all this kind of stuff. The baron continued his work for another minute before stopping abruptly.  
“Daniel.” He ordered, turning abruptly to the younger man. Daniel shrunk back a bit before responding.  
“Yes, Alexander?”  
“Come here.” Alexander ordered as if he were repeating himself. Daniel stood and scrambled over to the baron.  
“What should I do?” Daniel asked obediently. Alexander pointed to a shelf.  
“There should be a vial of deep blue liquid on that self.” Daniel nodded. “Get it for me.”  
Daniel then realized that the shelf he was talking about was a head or two above Alexander’s new reach, and he had to stop himself from laughing a little. _No, it’s not funny._ he reminded himself as he grabbed the vial and handed it to Alexander.  
The baron glared at him as Daniel stopped himself from laughing.  
“I do not understand what you find humourous from this, Daniel.” He stated, beginning to mix the concoction again. “Hopefully, this will be finished within the hour.”  
Daniel was relieved to say the least. After this they could go back to the normal schedule they had before, if it was a bit odd and.. morally gray.  
“I’m sorry for all of this, Alexander.” He apologized. The baron sighed.  
“It’s fine. Nothing truly wrong happened. Just, do not do it again.”  
Daniel smiled at the apparently accepted apology.  
“Now sit away again. If I require your assistance, I will call you over.” Alexander ordered. Daniel nodded curtly and scurried over to the seat to wait out the remainder of the potion’s creation.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was a short time before Daniel managed to doze off. The sleep was dreamless, which pleased the usually nightmare plagued man. He had no way to tell how long it had been before he woke once again.  
The laboratory was empty. Apparently Alexander had needed to leave for some ingredient, Daniel assumed. Along with the empty room, he also awoke to everything feeling weird. His whole body tingled and it felt kind of nice, actually. He briefly wondered if he was even still in Alexander’s body and brought his hand up to his face.   
What he saw was the blue tinted talons he had seen previously. He looked behind him, remembering how he’d had wings before, and saw large batlike wings hanging over the chair lazily. He tried moving it and it responded as if it were an arm or leg.  
“Is this what Alexander really looks like?” he thought out loud as he started to feel everything with his new senses. Everything just felt _better_ like this.  
His thoughts were interrupted by Alexander’s entrance with mouth agape.  
“Daniel, what in the world are you doing?” he asked in slight confusion.  
“Is this what you really are?” Daniel asked in response, looking down at the blue body he currently inhabited. The baron sighed for a moment.  
“Yes. It is what I really am.” He admitted. “Now change yourself back, we don’t want any accidents.”  
“Accidents?” Daniel asked as something hit his... tail? No... He wasn’t sure what it was. it was some limb...  
A glass clattered to the floor and shattered.  
“Sorry!” Was all Daniel could yell in response. He still wasn’t even sure what had happened.  
The baron groaned.  
“The serum is nearly finished. Sit and do not touch a thing.”  
Daniel sat again and stayed as still as possible, not even daring to look at whatever extra limb, or limbs, he had.  
It was only a half hour before the serum was completed. Alexander took two glasses and filled them to the brim.  
“Drink.” He ordered, handing the drink to Daniel. Daniel followed immediately, nearly spitting it out when the awful taste hit his mouth. Alexander followed suit.  
Everything went black very suddenly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Daniel, wake up.” Alexander ordered as Daniel began to regain consciousness. It was Alexander’s real voice that had done it, too.  
Daniel opened his eyes to find himself looking up at the regular Alexander’s body. He couldn’t help but smile. The potion had worked!   
“Daniel.” Alexander’s harsh voice caught Daniel’s attention immediately. However, the old man’s face showed slight worry. “Are you alright?”  
Daniel had to blink a couple of times in surprise before answering.  
“Y-yes, Alexander. I’m fine. Is everything back to normal now?” He asked, getting up slowly. Alexander nodded.  
“Yes. Everything has returned to normal. We shall continue the rituals beginning tomorrow morning.” With that, Alexander began to leave the laboratory. Daniel noticed how he went a lot slower, obviously waiting for Daniel to catch up. Daniel ran over to him.   
It wasn’t long before the darkness started to get to him.  
“Alexander?” He asked shyly, easily keeping with the baron’s slow pace. He looked at Daniel in slight worry.  
“Shall I light a candle?” He asked, obviously showing more worry than he meant to. Daniel had barely begun to nod before the halls lit up with candles automatically. Daniel smiled and moved a little closer to the baron unconsciously.   
“Thank you...” He was suddenly reminded of something. “Um, Alexander?”  
The baron turned to him, curious.  
“Do you think I could see what you really look like later?” he asked hopefully. The baron couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on his face.  
“Perhaps, Daniel. Perhaps.”  
 _Fin._


End file.
